Combing means for a comb of a combing machine

ABSTRACT

Toothed clothing for a comb of a combing machine as well a process for producing same is described. The toothed clothing includes a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth, which form at least one teeth row orientated transversely to the working direction. The teeth of the clothing are formed from the solid and are made in one piece to form a tooth bar. In addition, a top comb and a circular comb for a combing machine having such toothed clothings are also described. The toothed clothings hereby include one or more teeth rows.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority of Germany patent Application No.10 2006 030 763.1, filed Jun. 23, 2006, the disclosure of which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to toothed clothing for a comb of acombing machine including a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth,which form at least one teeth row orientated transversely to the workingdirection, and also relates to a process for producing same.

The present invention relates further to a top comb and a circular combhaving such toothed clothing.

For the purpose of the present invention, the terms “adjacently to oneanother” are used, in order to demonstrate the positions of the teethand teeth rows to one another. The terms refer always to the workingdirection of the teeth and should be understood as if the viewer werelooking along the clothing in the working direction of the comb.

Because of prior use in a plurality of combing machines to be found onthe market, top combs are known which comprise a base body and a teethrow. The teeth row consists of individual teeth, which during productionof the top comb are stamped out individually and inserted into the basebody. The base body of the top comb comprises a groove, which extendstransversely to the working direction, in which groove the individualteeth are inserted adjacently to one another. The teeth are fixed in thegroove by way of a caulking process.

Furthermore, circular combs are known in which the toothed clothingsconsist of short sections of a wire toothed clothing. The wire toothedclothings are bent according to the curve of the circular comb and thenfragmented into short segments. The segments that comprise several teethare layered adjacently to one another over the working width of thecircular comb and adhered to a base body of the circular comb.

The known embodiment has the disadvantage in that the adjacently lyingteeth of a teeth row consist of individual parts and therefore havelarge tolerances in their position and orientation, so that theexactness of the toothed clothings is not particularly high.

In addition, the wear behavior of such combs is irregular, as the teethcan only be hardened in the area of their tips. In the area of the toothbase, the material must be formable, as in the production of the topcomb the teeth are stamped individually out of the wire and in theproduction of the circular comb the wire clothing must be bent accordingto the curve.

It is an object of the present invention to increase the exactness ofthe toothed clothing and to improve its wear behavior.

This object has been achieved in accordance with the present inventionin that the toothed clothing is designed with its teeth in the form of aone-piece tooth bar. In the process this object has been achieved inthat the teeth of the toothed clothing are made from the solid.

The forming in one piece of a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth ofa toothed clothing has the advantage in that the exactness of the teeth,in regard to the geometry of their outer contours and in regard to theirposition to one another, is significantly increased. A particularlyadvantageous wear behavior can be achieved in that the teeth arehardened evenly over their entire height, in particular right down tothe area of the tooth base and in the areas between the tooth bases. Thesemi-finished product of the toothed clothing can be hardened ortempered before the teeth are formed. The deformations that inevitablyoccur during hardening are eliminated again in the subsequent process ofshaping the teeth. The shaping of the teeth from the solid can becarried out advantageously by milling, grinding or eroding, for exampleby way of wire eroding. It can also be advantageous to use a combinationof the above named processes, for example in that the outer contours areformed by way grinding—as seen transversely to the working direction ofthe teeth—while the grooves extending in working direction between twoteeth—which form the teeth gaps—are formed by eroding. If required, thetoothed clothing can be deburred in a further procedural step after theteeth are formed. Deburring can occur advantageously either byelectrolytic or chemical means.

In an embodiment of the present invention, it can be advantageous to usea drawn profile as a semi-finished product for the tooth bar, on whichthe teeth of the toothed clothing are subsequently shaped. The outercontour—as seen transversely to the subsequent working direction of theteeth—can be adapted in advance to the finished tooth bar, so that whenthe teeth are being shaped, for example by way of grinding, nounnecessary amounts of waste material have to be removed. With theaccording exactness of the drawn profile, it can be advantageous thatthe drawn profile of the tooth bar already partly forms—as seentransversely to the working direction of the teeth—the outer contours ofthe teeth, and that the outer contour of the teeth—as seen transverselyto the working direction—have only been partly subsequently ground. Thegrooves extending in the working direction of the teeth, which formpractically the spaces between two teeth, are then shaped from the solidof the drawn profile.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, it can be advantageousfor the toothed clothing for a circular comb that a plurality of teethrows are shaped out of the circumference of a hollow cylinder, which areorientated parallel to the middle axis, and that the hollow cylinder issubsequently fragmented into a plurality of segments. The hollowcylinder has hereby the same radius as the circular comb, so that asegment separated out of the circumference of the hollow cylinder can beapplied to a base body of the circular comb. The production of thetoothed clothing as a circular hollow cylinder is, in particular,advantageous in the shaping of the teeth by grinding, as a rotationallysymmetric part can be easily produced on a grinding machine. Hollowcylinders having a variety of toothed clothing can be produced, whichcomprise teeth of various sizes. The hollow cylinders are then dividedinto segments of the required length, so that the desired number ofteeth rows is present on the segment-shaped tooth bar. A number ofsegment-shaped tooth bars, each having various sized teeth, can bearranged on the base body of the circular comb, in order to achieve thenecessary combing effect of the circular comb.

Depending on the working width of the combing machine, it can beadvantageous, instead of one tooth bar extending over the entire workingwidth, to have a number of tooth bars arranged adjacently to one anotherover the working width of the top comb or of the circular comb. In thiscase, the entire teeth row extending transversely to the workingdirection of the teeth is not made from one piece; however, despitethis, each tooth bar still includes a plurality of adjacently arrangedteeth. The exactness is thus still significantly higher than in the caseof the known embodiment, in which the adjacent teeth of a teeth row areformed by individual parts arranged adjoining one another.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, it can be advantageousthat the tooth bar includes fixing mechanisms. The fixing mechanisms arehereby optional and could be, for example, pegs, grooves or holes, whichwould permit caulking, injection moulding or bolting with a base body orwith another part of the combing machine. An area of the surface of thetooth bar is also to be understood as a fixing mechanism, which servesto adhere the toothed clothing. The present invention permits, inparticular, a top comb to be designed in such a way that the base bodyalways required up to now can be omitted. The top comb consists thenonly of a tooth bar made in one piece, in which the teeth are shaped andcan be mounted by way of their fixing mechanism directly onto the topcomb carrier of the combing machine.

In a further embodiment of the invention, it can be advantageous thatthe teeth of the toothed clothing include a coating. The coating can,for example, be a nickel coating, in which hard material particles suchas diamond can be optionally embedded. A plasma or PVD coating can alsobe advantageous.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and further objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will become more readily apparent from the following detaileddescription thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic and only partly shown cross section of acombing machine;

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged view of a top comb as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a view of a top comb in the direction of the arrow III ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows an enlarged view of a circular comb as shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 5 shows a view of a toothed clothing of FIG. 4 along theintersectional surface V-V of FIG. 4;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The combing machine shown partly in FIG. 1 includes as essentialcomponent parts combing nippers 1, two break roller pairs 2 and 3, acircular comb 4 and a top comb 5. The combing nippers 1 include twomoveable nipping elements 6 and 7, to which a fiber material 8 is fed infeed direction A by way of a driveable feed roller 9. The aim of thecombing machine is to improve the quality of the fiber material 8, inthat the percentage of trash particles and short fibers is reduced bythe combing process. The break roller pairs 2 and 3 consist each of areversible driveable bottom roller and a top roller pressed flexiblythere against. The break roller pairs 2, 3 guide the combed fibermaterial 10 in the direction of the arrow B to the further knownprocessing stages. The circular comb 4 is fastened to a circular combcarrier 11, which can be rotated in working direction C via a circularcomb axle 12. The circular comb 4 includes toothed clothings 14 on itsside facing the fiber material 8 to be combed. The top comb 5 isattached to a top comb carrier 13 in an adjustable way and also includesa toothed clothing denoted with the reference number 15. The device 16for fixing the top comb 5 permits adjustments of the top comb 5transversely to the fiber material 8, so that the penetration depth ofthe top comb 5 is variable. The device 16 for fixing couldadvantageously be realized by use of bolts placed into slotted holes inthe top comb 5.

The combing nippers 1, the feed roller 9 and the top comb carrier 13 areapplied to a carrier 17 moveable in the direction of the double arrowD-E, which carrier is denoted in FIG. 1 by a broken line. The distancebetween the back break roller 2 and the combing nippers 1 and the topcomb 5 changes, caused by the alternating movements of the carrier 17.

In the phase of the process shown in FIG. 1, the carrier 17 is locatedin a position which is closest to the break roller pair 2. The top comb5 has penetrated into the fiber material 8 and the combing nippers 1 arestill open. The carrier 17 moves in the arrow direction D away from thebreak roller pair 2. The top comb 5 thus combs the fiber material 8 inworking direction F. The break roller pair 2 and 3 rotate and transportthe combed fiber material 10 in draw-off direction B. The fiber material8 tears between the top comb 5 and the break roller pair 2. The free endof the fiber material 8 falls out of the top comb 5 in the direction ofthe circular comb carrier 11. The position of the free end of the fibermaterial 8 is denoted in FIG. 1 by a broken line and by the referencenumber 8′.

During this movement of the carrier 17, the combing nippers 1 close andthe fiber material 8 is nipped between the nipping elements 6 and 7. Therotational movement of the circular comb carrier 11 in working directionC is determined in such a way that the initial area of the circular comb4 reaches the free end 8′ of the fiber material 8 projecting out of thecombing nippers 1, as soon as the combing nippers 1 are closed totally.The circular comb 4 rotating in working direction C combs the fibermaterial 8 projecting out of the combing nippers 1. The carrier 17continues to move in arrow direction D.

The break roller pairs 2 and 3 reverse their direction of motion afterthe fiber material 8 is torn apart and transport the combed fibermaterial 10 back in the opposite direction to the draw-off direction B.When the end of the circular comb 4 has run through the unattached end8′ of the fiber material 8, the direction of motion of the carrier 17 isreversed, and the carrier 17 moves in arrow direction E again towardsthe break roller pair 2. The combing nippers 1 open hereby and, by wayof a rotation of the feed roller 9, the fiber material 8 is fed forwardin feed direction A. The unattached end 8′, hanging out of the combingnippers 1 of the fiber material 8 binds together with the fiber material10 being fed back in the opposite direction to the draw-off direction B.The direction of motion of the break roller pair 2, 3 is again reversed,so that the fiber material 10, together with the unattached end 8′ ofthe fiber material 8 is transported in draw-off direction B, and thepreviously unattached end of the fiber material 8 is nipped between thebottom roller and the top roller of the break roller pair 2. The carrier17 again reaches the position shown in FIG. 1 and the top comb 5 hasagain penetrated the fiber material 8, so that the combing cycle canbegin again.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, a top comb 5 including a toothed clothing 15 accordingto the present invention is shown. The top comb 5 has a base body 18, towhich the toothed clothing 15 is attached. The toothed clothing 15includes a plurality of teeth 19 arranged adjacently to one another,which form a teeth row 20. The teeth row 20 is orientated transverselyto the working direction F of the teeth 19. The toothed clothing 15including the teeth 19 is designed as a one-piece tooth bar. Inproduction, the teeth 19 are hereby formed from the solid by, forexample, grinding or eroding.

The tooth bar 21 includes a profiled peg 22 as a mechanism 23 for beingfastened to the base body 18. The base body 18 is advantageouslydie-cast directly to the tooth bar 21 and can advantageously be madefrom a carbon fiber reinforced plastic. Alternately, a peg 22 as afastening device 23 can also be provided, which is slid into the grooveof a light metal base body 18 and caulked. A further alternative is thatthe fixing device 23 can also be designed as a T-groove 22′, denoted bya broken line. The T-groove 22′ is advantageous for the base body 18, inparticular in connection with fiber reinforced material, which base body18 is hardened in an autoclave in which a vacuum prevails. Suchreinforced materials are made from fiber mat, in particular from carbonfibers, and are layered and are soaked in resin. The base body 18 issubsequently placed with the tooth bar 21 in a form and hardened in anautoclave under a prevailing vacuum and heat. Fiber reinforcedmaterials, and in particular materials containing carbon fibers areadvantageous for the base body 18, as they have a high degree ofstability while being relatively light in weight, and can thereforereduce the forces occurring due to the alternating movements.

A drawn profile is advantageously used as a semi-finished product forthe tooth bar 21. The drawn profile can be hardened and tempered inadvance, and the teeth 19 are subsequently formed from the solid. Theouter contour of the teeth 19—as seen transversely to the workingdirection F of the teeth 19—are advantageously formed first, and thenthe grooves 24 extending in working direction F are formed. The grooves24 can be seen in FIG. 3 and form practically the intermediate spacebetween two teeth 19 of a teeth row 20. In FIG. 3, different types ofgrooves 24 and teeth 19 are shown on a top comb 5 as examples. Inpractice, of course, teeth 19 of the same shape will be used over theentire working width G of the top comb 5.

In order to achieve a high combing effect of the toothed clothing 15, itis advantageous for the groove 24 to have a depth H, which measures atleast twice or three times, in particular more than five to ten times,the pitch width J between two teeth 19.

For reasons of simplified production of the toothed clothing 15, it canbe advantageous that not only is a tooth bar 21 used, which extends witha dimension K of the teeth row 20 over the entire working width G, butalso that for example three tooth bars 21 are applied adjacently to onebase body 18—as can be seen in FIG. 3—in order to cover the entireworking width G of the top comb 5. A working width G of, for example,300 mm could be covered with three tooth bars 21 having each a dimensionK of 100 mm. Different working widths G in the case of various top combs5 can be very easily produced due to the variation of the number of usedtooth bars 21.

In an embodiment not shown it can be advantageous to apply the fixingmechanism 16 of the top comb 5 directly to the tooth bar 21. The basebody 18 can hereby be omitted. The tooth bar 21 can be designed in sucha way that it comprises the slots 25 of the fixing mechanism 16 and canthus be directly connected with the top comb carrier 13. A design ofthis type is particularly advantageous when the dimension K of the teethrow 20 corresponds approximately to the working width G of the top comb5 and when the top comb 5 is formed by a single tooth bar 21.

A circular comb 4 is shown in FIG. 4, which consists of a base body 26and a number of toothed clothing 14 applied thereto. The toothedclothings 14, which first come into contact during the rotation of thecircular comb 4 in working direction C, are designed as tooth bars 21,which include a single teeth row 20, which teeth 19 are arrangedadjacently to one another. The following toothed clothings 14 consist ofone-piece toothed bars 28, which comprise several teeth rows 20 arrangedone behind the other in working direction C. Tooth bars 28 havingseveral teeth rows 20 have advantageously the form of a segment out of acylinder jacket, whose radius is adapted to the radius of the circularcomb 4. The segment-shaped tooth bars 28 are made advantageously ascomplete hollow cylinders, on whose circumference the teeth 19 areshaped and which cylinder is then divided into a number of segments.

In the case of the circular comb 4, the tooth bars 21 and 28 are alsoattached to the base body 26 by fixing mechanism 23. The base body 26can advantageously be die-cast to the tooth bars 21 and 28 as a die-castpart or as an injection-moulded part. It can also be advantageous to fixthe tooth bars 21 and 28 to the base body by use of an adhesive. It canhereby be sufficient that, as the fixing mechanism 23, just theunderside of the tooth bar 21 or 28 acts with the adhesive. In a way notshown, the fixing mechanism 23 on the tooth bars 21, 28 can also be aprofiling in the form of grooves, pegs or the like.

In the case of tooth bars 28 having a number of teeth rows 20, it isnecessary to form grooves 29 extending transversely to the workingdirection C in the tooth bar 28, so that teeth rows are formed onebehind the other in working direction C. The depth L of the groove 29differs advantageously from the depth H of the groove 24 extending inworking direction C between two teeth 19. In FIG. 5, an advantageousexample of the depths H and L of the grooves 24 and 29 in a tooth bar 28are shown. The depth L of the groove 29 extending transversely to theworking direction C measures less than the depth H of the groove 24extending parallel to the working direction C. A toothed clothing 14 ofthis type achieves a positive combing result and does not tend to clogthe toothed clothing 14 with fibers deposits.

As in the case of the toothed clothing 15 of the top comb 5, thedimension K of the teeth rows 20—as seen transversely to the workingdirection C of the teeth 19—can correspond approximately to the workingwidth G of the circular comb 4. Alternatively, a plurality of adjacentlyposition teeth 19 of the teeth rows 20 can be designed as a tooth bar 28formed in one piece, whereby the dimension K of the tooth bar 28 as seentransversely to the working direction C of the teeth 19—is smaller thanthe working width G of the circular comb 4, so that a number of toothbars 28 are arranged adjacently over the working width G.

All the examples of toothed clothing 15 for a top comb 5 described abovecan be applied in the same way to toothed clothing 14 for a circularcomb 4. A repeat description is therefore omitted.

The foregoing disclosure has been set forth merely to illustrate theinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of thedisclosed embodiments incorporating the spirit and substance of theinvention may occur to persons skilled in the art, the invention shouldbe construed to include everything within the scope of the appendedclaims and equivalents thereof.

1. Toothed clothing for a comb of a combing machine, comprising: a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth, which form at least one teeth row orientated transversely to a working direction of the teeth; and wherein, the teeth row with its teeth is operatively configured as a tooth bar made in one piece.
 2. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, wherein the one-piece tooth bar comprises exactly one teeth row.
 3. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, wherein the one-piece tooth bar comprises several teeth rows arranged one behind the other in the working direction of the teeth.
 4. Toothed clothing according to claim 3, further comprising a groove extending transversely to the working direction between two teeth rows having a depth (L), which differs from the depth (H) of a groove extending in the working direction between two teeth.
 5. Toothed clothing according to claim 3, wherein the one-piece tooth bar has a form of a segment out of a cylinder jacket, whereby the teeth rows are arranged in a circumferential direction one behind the other on the cylinder jacket.
 6. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing mechanism for the tooth bar.
 7. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, wherein the tooth bar is composed of hardened or tempered steel.
 8. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, wherein the teeth of the toothed clothing comprise a coating.
 9. Toothed clothing according to claim 1, wherein a groove extending in the working direction between two teeth has a depth (H) which measures at least twice to five times the pitch distance (J) of the teeth transversely to the working direction.
 10. A process for producing a toothed clothing for a comb of a combing machine having a plurality of teeth arranged adjacently to one another, the process comprising the acts of: obtaining a solid; and forming at least one teeth row orientated transversely to a working direction of the teeth, the teeth of the teeth row being made from the solid.
 11. A process according to claim 10, wherein as a semi-finished product for the tooth bar a drawn profile is used as the solid, on which the teeth of the toothed clothing are subsequently formed.
 12. A process according to claim 10 wherein, as seen transversely to the working direction of the teeth, the outer contour of the teeth of a teeth row is formed from the solid.
 13. A process according to claim 11, wherein, as seen transversely to the working direction of the teeth, the outer contour of the teeth are formed at least partly by a drawn profile of the tooth bar.
 14. A process according to claim 11, wherein the teeth of a teeth row are formed by the shaping of grooves extending in the working direction of the tooth bar.
 15. A process according to claim 14, wherein the teeth are shaped at least partly by grinding.
 16. A process according to claim 14, wherein the teeth are shaped at least partly by eroding.
 17. A process for producing a toothed clothing according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of rows of teeth are shaped on the circumference of a hollow cylinder, which are parallel to its middle axis, and further wherein the hollow cylinder is subsequently divided into a plurality of segments.
 18. A top comb for a combing machine having a toothed clothing, which includes a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth, wherein the teeth form at least one teeth row orientated transversely to a working direction, wherein the teeth row with its teeth is operatively configured as a tooth bar made in one piece, and that a dimension (K) of the teeth row—as seen transversely to the working direction of the teeth—corresponds approximately to a working width (G) of the top comb.
 19. A top comb for a combing machine comprising: a toothed clothing, which comprises a number of adjacently arranged teeth, wherein the teeth form at least one teeth row orientated transversely to a working direction; and wherein a number of adjacently arranged teeth of the teeth row is operatively configured as a tooth bar made in one piece, wherein a dimension (K) of the tooth bar—as seen transversely to the working direction of the teeth—is less than a working width (G) of the top comb, and further wherein a number of tooth bars are arranged over the working width of the top comb.
 20. A top comb according to claim 18, wherein the top comb comprises a base body, to which at least one tooth bar is attached by a fixing mechanism.
 21. A top comb according to claim 19, wherein the top comb comprises a base body, to which at least one tooth bar is attached by a fixing mechanism
 22. A top comb according to claim 20, wherein the base body, is die-cast to at least one tooth bar in the form of a die-cast part or an injection-molded part.
 23. A top comb according to claim 20, wherein the base body is composed of fiber reinforced material hardened in an autoclave.
 24. A circular comb for a combing machine having a toothed clothing, which includes a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth, wherein the teeth form rows of teeth orientated transversely to a working direction, and wherein a number of rows of teeth are arranged in a circumferential direction of the circular comb one behind the other, wherein at least one teeth row with its teeth is operatively configured as a tooth bar made in one piece, and a dimension (K) of the teeth row—as seen transversely to the working direction of the teeth—corresponds approximately to a working width (G) of the circular comb.
 25. A circular comb for a combing machine, comprising: a toothed clothing having a plurality of adjacently arranged teeth, wherein the teeth form rows of teeth orientated transversely to a working direction (C), and wherein a number of rows of teeth are arranged in a circumferential direction of the circular comb one behind the other; wherein a number of adjacently arranged teeth of a teeth row are operatively configured as a tooth bar made in one piece, wherein a dimension (K) of the tooth bar—as seen transversely to the working direction (C) of the teeth—is smaller than a working width (G) of the circular comb; and further wherein a number of tooth bars are arranged adjacently to one another over the working width (G) of the circular comb.
 26. A circular comb according to claim 23, wherein the circular comb comprises a base body to which at least one tooth bar is attached by a fixing mechanism.
 27. A circular comb according to claim 25, wherein the circular comb comprises a base body to which at least one tooth bar is attached by a fixing mechanism.
 28. A circular comb according to claim 26, wherein the base body is die-cast to at least one tooth bar in the form of a die-cast or injection-molded part.
 29. A circular comb according to claim 26, wherein the base body is composed of fiber-reinforced material hardened in an autoclave. 